Memoirs of the Self-Published: Part IV - Paper sourcing
There are 3 key components to self-publishing your own book:
- Paper
- Printing
- Binding
This post is about picking the right paper. I will address ebooks in a later post.
To print 1,000 copies of my book, I knew I needed approx. 32,500 sheets of paper. I priced paper at several local retailers and found that xpedx, one of the nation's largest paper warehouses, had the best prices. Their prices were even lower than quotes I received from the paper manufacturers. And because I was buying in bulk and explained my book project to them, I was able to negotiate a discounted price.
I chose to print my book on 100% cotton archival-quality paper by Strathmore. This is some of the finest (and most expensive) paper you can buy. The reason I chose to go with the fancy paper is that I spent years writing the stories in my book, and I'd be hand-binding it, and for not too much more money, I could get the best stuff, instead of just regular paper.
Why Use 100% Cotton Paper?
I used to work at the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley's special collections library, and for manuscripts that we needed to make sure would last a long time, we printed them on 100% cotton paper. It's rated to last 500 years or more. I felt the paper gives my book the best presentation and makes it look rich and high-quality. Because of my belief that the presentation of the book is almost as important as the writing, I decided to splurge in this one area, because it's critical. For most other people, I'd recommend printing on regular acid-free paper. It'll save you some money.
The Finances of Self-Publishing
I calculated that my total cost for the book (paper, printing, binding, plus my travel and misc. book-related expenses) would be around $2.50 per book, as opposed to around $7 going with a print-on-demand service like Lulu. In other words, it cost me approx. $2,500 to make 1,000 copies of my book with some of the finest paper available plus crossword puzzle and map vs. what would've been approx. $7,000 for 1,000 copies of just the book, and not have full control over paper, printing, and binding.
Doing it all yourself can have considerable cost-advantages. However, you need to put in a lot more time and research. To pull off the publishing project, it took my knowledge from 5+ years working in publishing at McSweeney's and Pearson Higher Education, plus me asking many questions to the many colorful characters I knew who are experts in editing, cartography, crossword-puzzle-making, design, paper-sourcing, printing, and binding to pull off the production of this book.
I used to work at the Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley's special collections library, and for manuscripts that we needed to make sure would last a long time, we printed them on 100% cotton paper. It's rated to last 500 years or more. I felt the paper gives my book the best presentation and makes it look rich and high-quality. Because of my belief that the presentation of the book is almost as important as the writing, I decided to splurge in this one area, because it's critical. For most other people, I'd recommend printing on regular acid-free paper. It'll save you some money.
The Finances of Self-Publishing
I calculated that my total cost for the book (paper, printing, binding, plus my travel and misc. book-related expenses) would be around $2.50 per book, as opposed to around $7 going with a print-on-demand service like Lulu. In other words, it cost me approx. $2,500 to make 1,000 copies of my book with some of the finest paper available plus crossword puzzle and map vs. what would've been approx. $7,000 for 1,000 copies of just the book, and not have full control over paper, printing, and binding.
Doing it all yourself can have considerable cost-advantages. However, you need to put in a lot more time and research. To pull off the publishing project, it took my knowledge from 5+ years working in publishing at McSweeney's and Pearson Higher Education, plus me asking many questions to the many colorful characters I knew who are experts in editing, cartography, crossword-puzzle-making, design, paper-sourcing, printing, and binding to pull off the production of this book.
